Alfa Corse
Encyclopedia
Alfa Corse is the name of Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...

's factory racing team. Throughout the years, Alfa Corse has competed in various forms of motorsport, from Grand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...

 to touring car racing
Touring car racing
Touring car racing is a general term for a number of distinct auto racing competitions in heavily-modified street cars. It is notably popular in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Scandinavia and Britain.-Characteristics of a touring car:...

.

Alfa Corse was officially formed in the beginning of 1938, after the racing department was moved back from unofficial factory team Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....

 to "Il Portello". Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Anselmo Ferrari Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian race car driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari car manufacturer...

 was still in charge of department, but left one year later to build his own cars under the name Auto-Avio Costruzioni
Auto Avio Costruzioni 815
The Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 was the first car to be fully designed and built by Enzo Ferrari. Legal issues with former associates Alfa Romeo prevented Ferrari from creating the Ferrari marque. The 815 raced at the 1940 Brescia Grand Prix, where both entries failed to finish due to engine problems...

. From 1961 Alfa Romeo factory racing team was run by Autodelta
Autodelta
Autodelta SpA was the name of Alfa Romeo's competition department. Established in 1961 as Auto-Delta, the company was started by Carlo Chiti, a former Alfa Romeo and Ferrari engineer, and Ludovico Chizzola, an official Alfa Romeo dealer. The team was officially made a department of Alfa Romeo on...

.

Alfa Romeo was purchased by the Fiat Group in 1986, and in 1987, Giorgio Pianta was moved from the management of Abarth to restart Alfa Corse.. After aborted attempts at producing the 164 Procar
Alfa Romeo 164
The Alfa Romeo 164 is an executive car with saloon body, produced by the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo from 1987 to 1998.The 164 was re-badged as the 168 for the Hong Kong and Malaysian markets, as the number "164" had a very negative connotation , and "168" has quite the opposite The Alfa Romeo 164...

 with Brabham and moving into the World Sports Prototype Championship, Alfa Corse settled on a return to touring car racing, starting with the Italian CIVT
Italian Superturismo Championship
The Italian Superturismo Championship was Italy's national motorsport series for touring cars. It was established in 1987 and its drivers' title has been held by such notable drivers as Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro and two-time Champ Car champion Alex Zanardi.-History:Established in 1987 the...

 series, in 1992, with the 155 GTA
Alfa Romeo 155
The Alfa Romeo 155 is a compact executive car produced under the Italian Alfa Romeo marque between 1992 and 1998.-Design:Built to replace the 75 and based on the parent Fiat Group's Type Three platform, the 155 was somewhat larger in dimension than the 75 but evolved its styling from that of its...

. In 1993, Alfa Corse entered the DTM
Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft was a touring car racing series held from 1984 to 1996. Originally based in Germany, it held additional rounds elsewhere in Europe and later worldwide....

 with the AWD V6-powered 155 TI, and created a Supertouring
Supertouring
Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a motor racing Touring Cars category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Formula" created for the British Touring Car Championship in 1990...

 model, that would on got win the Italian Superturismo, the BTCC
British Touring Car Championship
The British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom. The Championship was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and has run to various rules over the years – "production cars", then FIA Group 1 or 2 in the late 1960s...

 and the Spanish Touring Car Championship.

Alfa Romeo withdrew from the DTM (now named International Touring Car Challenge) at the end of 1996, and Pianta was replaced by Francesco Galletto. When the 156
Alfa Romeo 156
The Alfa Romeo 156 is a compact executive car introduced by Italian automaker Alfa Romeo at the 1997 Frankfurt Motor Show as the replacement for the Alfa Romeo 155...

 replaced the 155, it was developed for Supertouring and Superproduction classes, racing in the European Touring Car Championship
European Touring Car Championship
The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004...

. In 2001, Alfa Corse merged with Mauro Sipsz's independent firm, Nordauto Engineering, to form N. Technology.
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